Street scars: Suicide ideation and suicide attempt among street-involved adolescents and youth in southern Brazil.

OBJECTIVE

To measure the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts as well as suicide attempts' associated factors among street-involved youth in southern Brazil.

PARTICIPANTS AND

SETTING

Cross-sectional study was conducted with street-involved adolescents and children from Porto Alegre and Rio Grande, Brazil.

METHODS

A respondent-driven sampling strategy was used to access this hard-to-reach population quickly and efficiently. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were conducted, with the latter being binary logistic regression.

RESULTS

The prevalence of suicide attempts was 16.3%, while the frequency of suicidal ideation was 30.9%. Most participants were male, aged between 16 and 18 years, with no ties to school and family. Almost half of the sample had been in a street situation for five years or more, and two-thirds reported spending more than seven hours a day on the streets. Variables independently associated with suicide attempts were aged 19-21 years old, with reduced ties with school and family, having had an experience of sexual abuse, and lifetime use of crack.

CONCLUSIONS

Public policies targeting the strengthening ties of street-involved children, adolescents, and youth with school and family might reduce their vulnerability to threats, such as sexual abuse and use of crack, and hence focus on decreasing suicide attempts.